Collaborative Research on Responses to Fluvial, Estuarine, and Barrier-Island Systems to Climate and Sea-Level Change on the Central Texas Coast

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9423249 BLUM Considerable attention has been devoted to understanding the contemporary dynamics of different facets of the Earth system. Of particular concern have been the analysis of interconnections among terrestrial, atmospheric, and ocean systems related to climatic change and sea-level rise. A growing number of scientists are turning their attention to analyses of past changes in order to better understand present and future changes. By enhancing the empirical record of conditions during the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs, expanded knowledge of the dynamics of change and of the consequences of those changes can be used to validate models of contemporary processes and to improve predictions of the impacts of future changes. This collaborative research project will examine the development of fluvial, estuarine, and barrier-island systems along the central Texas coast in response to late Pleistocene and Holocene climate and sea-level changes. The primary goals of this project are (1) to develop a chronologically controlled general stratigraphic framework for different environments over the last 10,000 to 20,000 years; (2) to compare this framework with independently defined records of climate and environmental change for central Texas and the Gulf of Mexico; (3) to refine the record of Holocene sea-level change as a potential analog for future events; and (4) to evaluate the effects of sea-level change on fluvial, estuarine, and barrier-island systems as possible analogs for future changes. A diverse set of geomorphological, sedimentological, geophysical, micropaleontological, and archeological techniques will be used to gather data used in this study. The archeological work will focus on examining changes in human use of estuarine resources in order to ascertain possible future changes in productivity of fisheries resources when natural systems undergo human-induced and natural change. This project will provide new information about different facets of Pleistocene and Holocene change in coastal environments. Analyses of these and other data will provide valuable new insights into the timing and character of change in fluvial, estuarine, and barrier-island systems. This project also will help determine the degree to which historically based models can be used to predict future changes.